1.

0 Introduction

Malaysia is a developing country located in South-East Asia. The demands for buildings,
for commercial or residential use, are high demand in Malaysia. A building is designed to support
the load applied to it safely. The ability of building to sustain the applied loads depends on the
building’s foundation system. Foundation is an important part of every building, which interfaces
the superstructures to the adjacent soil or rock below it. The superstructure loads will be transferred
to the underlying soil or rock. Without a proper design and construction of foundation, problems
such as cracking, settlement of building may occur and even to the extent, the whole building may
collapse within its design life. Therefore, a proper foundation system is required to maintain the
safeness of a building.

Foundations can be the most unpredictable element of a building project. You can have an
idea of the ground conditions and plan on a specific foundation type, but once you start digging,
you could find yourself having to back to the drawing board to find a contingency. There is a few
type of foundation that are usually use in the building construction. Each type of foundation is
based on the ability of the soil to hold it back.

Type of foundation:

(1) Shallow foundations

Shallow foundations are also called spread footings or open footings. The 'open' refers to
the fact that the foundations are made by first excavating all the earth till the bottom of the footing,
and then constructing the footing. During the early stages of work, the entire footing is visible to
the eye, and is therefore called an open foundation. The idea is that each footing takes the
concentrated load of the column and spreads it out over a large area, so that the actual weight on
the soil does not exceed the safe bearing capacity of the soil.

In cold climates, shallow foundations must be protected from freezing. This is because water
in the soil around the foundation can freeze and expand, thereby damaging the foundation. These
foundations should be built below the frost line, which is the level in the ground above which
freezing occurs. If they cannot be built below the frost line, they should be protected by insulation:
normally a little heat from the building will permeate into the soil and prevent freezing.

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 (2) Pile foundations
Pile foundation, a kind of deep foundation, is actually a slender column or long cylinder
made of materials such as concrete or steel which are used to support the structure and transfer the
load at desire depth either by end bearing or skin friction. Pile foundations are usually used for
large structures and in situations where the soil at shallow depth is not suitable to resist excessive
settlement, resist uplift etc.

Pile foundations are used in the following situations:

 When there is a layer of weak soil at the surface. This layer cannot support the weight of
the building, so the loads of the building have to bypass this layer and be transferred to the
layer of stronger soil or rock that is below the weak layer.
 When a building has very heavy, concentrated loads, such as in a high rise structure.

Pile foundations are capable of taking higher loads than spread footings. There are four types of
pile foundations, each of which works in its own way.

1) End Bearing Piles

In end bearing piles, the bottom end of the pile rests on a layer of especially strong soil or
rock. The load of the building is transferred through the pile onto the strong layer. In a sense, this
pile acts like a column. The key principle is that the bottom end rests on the surface which is the
intersection of a weak and strong layer. The load therefore bypasses the weak layer and is safely
transferred to the strong layer.

2) Friction Piles

Friction piles work on a different principle. The pile transfers the load of the building to
the soil across the full height of the pile, by friction. In other words, the entire surface of the pile,
which is cylindrical in shape, works to transfer the forces to the soil. To visualise how this works,
imagine you are pushing a solid metal rod of say 4mm diameter into a tub of frozen ice cream.
Once you have pushed it in, it is strong enough to support some load. The greater the embedment
depth in the ice cream, the more load it can support. This is very similar to how a friction pile
works. In a friction pile, the amount of load a pile can support is directly proportionate to its length.

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 3) Load Bearing Piles

This type of pile foundation is mainly used to transfer the vertical loads from the structure
to the soil. These foundation transmit load through soil with poor supporting property onto a layer
which is capable of bearing the load.

4) Sheet Piles

This type of pile is mostly used to provide lateral support. Usually, they resist lateral
pressure from loose soil, the flow of water etc. They are usually used cofferdams, trench sheeting,
shore protection etc. they are not used for proving vertical support to the structure. They are usually
used to serve the following purpose:

 Construction of retaining walls.

 Protection from river bank erosion.
 Retain the loose soil around foundation trenches.
 For isolation of foundation from adjacent.
 For confinement of soil and thus increase the bearing capacity of soil.
5) Soil Compactor Piles

Sometimes piles are driven at placed closed intervals to increase the bearing capacity of
soil by compacting

(3) Factor of Safety in Pile Foundation

In civil engineering design, factor of safety is an important term to encounter uncertainty

of determined foundation bearing capacity. The loading or stress path and way of failure can be
predicted more precisely and will provide less safety and when can determined these accurately, a
factor of safety of unity may be used. In general, safety factors are applied in estimation of all
failure loads considers:

a) Reliability of determined value of ultimate bearing capacity

b) Loading type
c) Superstructure type
d) Allowable total settlement
e) Allowable differential settlement

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Ultimate bearing capacity can be calculated from:

i. Static formula
ii. Dynamic formula

*in both cases safety factors should be used. The minimum safety factor shall be 2.5 for that is
measured by static.

Sometimes load test is conducted to determine pile capacity. In such case, safety factor should be
increased in determining safe load, considering unfavourable conditions. These conditions are:

a) Limited settlement, least or no differential settlement in case of machinery aligned

accurately or a sensitive finish to superstructure.
b) Large vibrating and impact loads are anticipated.
c) Strength of soil or its modulus is consider to be deteriorated with time.
d) Live load is a significant portion of total load and piles resist this live load mostly by
friction

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2.0 Objectives and Scope of Works

Objectives:

1. To determine the allowable bearing capacity.

2. To develop pile design by using Plaxis.

Scope of Work

Geotechnical applications often require advanced constitutive models for the simulation of
the non-linear, time dependent and anisotropic behaviour of soils and rock. In addition to
traditional Mohr-Coulomb and linear elastic materials, further models have specifically been
developed with parameters that can be readily determined using standard soil testing
methodologies. Pore pressures in the soil can be accurately captured for both simple hydrostatic,
water-table derived problems as well as more complex situations where artesian conditions,
ground water flow and soil excavation drive the pore water pressures.

In this project, we will use Plaxis 2D to design the pile foundation. The software includes
geometry creation tools and automated settings to allow geotechnical problems to be analysed
efficiently & accurately with the minimum of training. Plaxis 2D is the most widely
used 2D simulation solution for deformation and stability analysis of multiple construction stages
within geotechnical engineering, considering steady-state groundwater flow for saturated and
partially saturated conditions.

At the end of the analysis, we can conclude the result either it success or not. If the total
extreme displacement is less than 30 mm, no settlement is occurred and the analysis is successfully
done. If not, the analysis is fail.

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3.0 Calculation Works and Design Analysis

In this design, we are considering a precast reinforced square pile to be installed. In detail, a
API pile is consider, which is certified to MS ISO 9001: 2015 by Sirim QAS International Sdn.
Bhd and is classified under JKR Grade 1 pile. Precast concrete piles are used in construction of
foundation for a wide range of different structure. As precast piles are suitable for all application
and ground conditions, they provide a very cost-effective piling solution. The reinforcement in a
precast concrete pile are to resist the stresses produced on account of its handling, driving and the
loading which the pile is finally expected to receive. The concrete square pile is designed as
250mm x 250mm and with a penetration depth of 24m.

Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is an in-situ test that is useful in soil exploration and
foundation design. By driving a sampler with SPT hammer, the number of blows will be counted
and thus producing the N-value. The N-value obtained from borelog can be used to correlated to
the calculation of the bearing capacity. However, the N-value is somehow suggested to be
corrected by considering a few factors. Research has shown that the most significant factor
affecting the measured N values is the amount of energy delivered to the drill rods. The four factors
that were considered are the energy ratio, borehole diameter, sampling method and rod length.

Table 3.1 Correction factors for N-value

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By referring to the table above and the details in Site Investigation Report,
Assume ER = 60%
CE = 1.0 (0.8< 1.0 < 1.5) ;
CB = 1.05;
CS = 1.0;
CR = 1.0

N60 = 1.05 Nmeasured

(1.0)

To obtain the value of CU from respective N-value, the table below was referred.;

Table 3.2: Relationship between N Value and the Consistency and the Undrained Shear Strength
of Cohesive Soil (Reina, 2014)

Example of interpolation:
𝐶𝑢 − 10 25 − 10
=
4−2 25 − 10

CU = 25

Besides, the α values were interpolated by using the table form Terzaghi, Peck and Mesri.

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Table 3.3: Variation of α (Interpolated values based on Terzaghi, Peck and Mesri, 1996)

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To obtain the value of α:
Pa = 100
Example of interpolation:

0.3 − 0.2 0.3 − 0.25

=
0.82 − 0.92 0.82 − 𝛼

𝛼 = 0.87

Thus, the N60, Cu and α values were calculated and tabulated in the following table.

Soil layer Depth Soil type N N60 CU 𝛼

1 1.5 Sand 4 4.2 25 0.87
2 3.0 Clay 0 0 0 0
3 4.5 Clay 0 0 0 0
4 6.0 Sand 2 2.10 10 1
5 7.5 Sand 4 4.20 25 0.87
6 9.0 Sand 5 5.25 31.25 0.81
7 10.5 Sand 6 6.30 37.5 0.76
8 12.0 Clay 6 6.30 37.5 0.76
9 13.5 Clay 6 6.30 37.5 0.76
10 15.0 Clay 8 8.40 50.0 0.68
11 16.5 Clay 9 9.45 57.14 0.637
12 18.0 Clay 9 9.45 57.14 0.637
13 19.5 Clay 11 11.55 71.43 0.574
14 21.0 Clay 11 11.55 71.43 0.574
15 22.5 Clay 12 12.60 78.57 0.546
16 24.0 Sand 14 14.70 92.86 0.501
17 25.5 Sand 15 15.75 100 0.480
18 27.0 Sand 16 16.80 106.67 0.460
19 28.5 Sand 19 19.95 126.67 0.413
20 30.0 Sand 19 19.95 126.67 0.413

Table 3.4 Required soil parameters for the calculation of allowable bearing capacity

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 In order to determine the ultimate load-carrying capacity of a pile, the point bearing
capacity, Qp and frictional resistance, Qs were calculated by an approach to a correlation with
SPT results was applied. The equation from Meyerhof, on the basis of field observation was
utilized. The last soil layer that the pile embedded in was a sand layer.

𝐿
Qp = Ap (0.4PaN60 (𝐷)) ≤ Ap(4PaN60 ) (2.0)

10D = 2.5m; 5D = 1.25m,

The average of N60 10D above and 5D below the pile tip was calculated.

Between the depth of 21.5m to 25.25m;

11.55+12.6+14.7+15.75
N60 = 4

N60 = 54.6

𝐿
Qp = Ap (qp) = Ap (0.4PaN60 (𝐷)) ≤ Ap(4PaN60 )

𝐿
Ap(0.4PaN60 (𝐷))

24
= (0.25×0.25)(0.4)(100)(54.6)(0.25)

=13106 kN

Ap(4PaN60)

=(0.25 × 0.25)(4 × 100 × 54.6)

=1365kN

Thus Qp = 1365 kN

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 On the other hand, the frictional resistance for sand layer and clay layer were calculated
separately. Firstly, for sand, the following equation was used and was correlated with SPT N60.

𝑄𝑠 = Ʃ p ∆𝐿𝑓𝑎𝑣 (3.0)

For sand:

By correlation with SPT results,

Assuming the concrete pile is a low displacement pile;

𝑓𝑎𝑣 = 0.01 Pa (𝑁60 )

= 𝑁60

The average 𝑁60 value for the sand of the top 24m is

4.2+2.1+4.2+5.25+6.3+14.7
𝑁60 = 6

36.75
= 6

= 6.125

𝑄𝑠 = Ʃ p ∆𝐿𝑓𝑎𝑣

= 4(0.25) (24) (6.125)

= 147 kN

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For clay:

By using ᾱ method,

f = ᾱ𝑐𝑢

𝑄𝑠 = Ʃ p ∆ L (ᾱ𝑐𝑢 ) (4.0)

The soil layers that were occupied by clay are the layer 2-3 and 8-15, since the Cu value for
layer 2-3 are 0, only the layers of 8-15 are considered.

𝑄𝑠 (Layer 8-15)

= 1.5 (4) (0.25) [(0.76x37.5x2) + (0.68x50) + (0.637x57.14x2) + (0.574x71.43x2) +

(0.546x78.57)

= 433.05 kN

Lastly, the ultimate bearing capacity was calculated by adding the point bearing capacity and
frictional resistance.

𝑄𝑢𝑙𝑡 = 𝑄𝑝 + 𝑄𝑠 (𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑) + 𝑄𝑠 (𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑦) (5.0)

𝑄𝑢𝑙𝑡 = 1365 +147 + 433.05

= 1945.05 kN

The allowable bearing capacity was calculated by applying a safety factor of 2.5.

𝑄
𝑄𝑎𝑙𝑙 = 𝐹𝑆𝑢

(6.0)

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 1945.05
𝑄𝑎𝑙𝑙 = 2.5

= 778.02 kN

Since 𝑄𝑎𝑙𝑙 = 2 x Working Load

778.02
Working Load = 2

= 389.01 kN

Thus, 389.01kN of point load is applied to the pile design in PLAXIS software.

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Design the Pile Foundation by using the Plaxis Software:

Figure 3.1: Cross Section of soil layer and pile foundation

Figure 3.2: Result Analysis

Total extreme displacement: 13mm

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 4.0 Justification of Soil Parameters

1.5 sand

0.9 clay
3.0

6.0
sand

12.0
clay
0

7.5

sand

Figure 4.1: Soil Profile

γ𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑡
Layer γ𝑠𝑎𝑡 (kN/mᶟ) E (kN/m²) 𝑣(𝑛𝑢) 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝛷𝑝ℎ𝑖 𝛹𝑝𝑠𝑖
(kN/mᶟ)

1
14.5 15.9 1.30x10⁴ 0.3 1 31 0
(sand)

2
15.94 19.25 1.0x10⁴ 0.35 5 25 0
(clay)

3
16 18 1.0x10⁴ 0.35 5 25 0
(bore log)

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 The figure above shows the soil profile that was obtained from the Site Investigation (SI)
report. In a SI report, the N-value is significant for the geotechnical designer to immediately
understand the soil profile, the probable founding depth, safety factor and other parameters. In
conjunction to that, due to the insufficient soil parameters obtained from the lab test results from
SI report, the SPT N-value from the SI report is corrected to N60 and correlated to calculate the
ultimate bearing capacity of pile.

Besides, the SPT has been used to correlate different soil parameters i.e., unit weight γ,
relative density Dr, angle of internal friction φ and undrained compressive strength qu. It has
also been used to estimate the bearing capacity of foundations and for estimating the stress-
strain modulus Es. In the tables below, Terzaghi and Peck give the following correlation between
SPT value and other soil parameters. Furthermore, there is also some correlations of N-value by
other researchers that can be considered. However, the soil parameters that is listed below is
necessarily to be determined because the parameters are not to be used in the design calculation.

SPT N-value 0 to 4 4 to 10 10 to 30 30 to 50 >50

Compactness very very
loose medium dense
loose dense
Relative Density, Dr (%) 0 to 15 15 to 35 35 to 65 65 to 85 85 to 100
Angle of Internal Friction,φ(°) <28 28 to 30 30 to 36 36 to 41 >41

Unit Weight (moist) pcf 95 to 110 to 110 to

<100 130 >130
125 140
kN/m3 14.9 to 17.3 17.3 to
<15.7 >20.4
19.6 to 22.0
20.4
Submerged pcf <60 55 to 65 60 to 70 65 to 85 >75
unit weight kN/m3 9.4 10.5 to
<9.4 8.6-10.2 >11.8
to 13.4
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Table 4.2: Penetration Resistance and Soil Properties on the Basis of SPT
(Cohesionless Soil: Fairly reliable)

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SPT N-value 0 to 2 2 to 4 4 to 8 8 to 16 16 to 32 >32
Consistency very soft medium stiff very hard
soft stiff
Unconfined Comp. lb/ft2 250 to 500 to 1000 to 2000 to
0 to 250 >4000
Test
500 1000 2000 4000
kPa 50 to 100 to 200 to
0 to 25 25 to 50 >400
100 200 400
Unit Weight pcf 100 110 to 115 120 to
<100 >130
(Saturated)
to120 125 to130 140
kN/m3 15.7 to 17.3 to 18.1 to 18.8 to
<15.7 >20.4
18.8 19.6 20.4 22.0

Table 4.3: Penetration Resistance and Soil Properties on the Basis of SPT
(Cohesive Soil: rather unreliable

Basic Parameter of The Mohr-Coulomb Model

The linear elastic perfectly-plastic Mohr-Coulomb model requires of a

total of five parameters, which are generally familiar to most geotechnical
engineers and which can be obtained from basic tests on soil samples.
These parameter with their standard units are listed below:
E : Young’s modulus
(kN/m2)
ʋ : Poisson’s ration (-)
c : Cohesion (kN/m2)
φ : Friction angle (°)
Ψ : Dilatancy angle (°)
σ : Tension cut-off and tensile strength
In the case of dynamic applications, alternative of additional
parameters may be used to define stiffness based on wave velocities.
The parameter:
VP : Compression wave velocity (m/s)

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5.0 Conclusion
The pile is design under two different type of soil which is sand and clay. From the
manual calculation, the allowable bearing capacity, Qall obtain for the foundation is 778.02
KN by using Factor of Safety (FOS) 2.5 is get from the values of Qp=1365 KN, Qs(sand)=147
KN and Qs(clay)=433.05 KN. The Qall value show the maximum allowable loading that can
be applied on the foundation without undergoing excessive settlement and shear failure besides
as guidance to know the ability of a building to apply certain load.

The foundation is also designed using the 2D Plaxis software with depth 24 meter from
the ground level and load applied on it is 389.01 KN. From the result analysis, the total extreme
displacement is equal to 13 mm which is the value must be less than 30 mm to make sure the
design is pass. The result shows that, there are no excessive settlement when any superstructure
is constructed over the foundation. Overall, the design is success.

6.0 Recommendation

Clayey soils are usually stiff when they are dry and give up their stiffness as they
become saturated. Soft clays are associated with low compressive strength and excessive
settlement sand. While for the sandy soil, the sand particles are large and coarse, with lots of
air space between them. This allow water to enter the soil quickly, but also drain away just as
quickly. There are ways to improve the strength and bearing capacity of the soils to avoid any
failure in the pile foundation.

Techniques used for improving bearing capacity of soil:

1. Increasing the depth of foundation

At deeper depths, the over burden pressure on soil is higher. Hence, the soil is more
compacted at deeper depth. As a result it shows higher bearing capacity. This is
applicable only for cohesionless soils such as sandy and gravelly soils. This method of
improving bearing capacity of soil is not applicable if the subsoil material grows wetter
as depth increase. This method has a limited use because with increase in depth, the
weight and cost of foundation also increase.

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2. Draining the soil
With the increase in percentage of water content in soil, the bearing capacity decreases.
In case of sandy soil, the bearing capacity may reduce as much as 50% due to presence
of water content. Cohesionless soil can be drained by laying the porous pipes to a gentle
slope, over a bed of sand and filling the trenches above the pipes with loose boulders.
These trenches subsequently should lead to the nearest well or any water body.
3. Compacting the soil
Compacting the soil with appropriate method will increase its density and shear
strength. As a result the bearing capacity of soil increases. There are a few method in
compacting the soil on site:
i. By spreading broken stones, gravel or sand and thereafter ramming well in the
bed of trenches.
ii. Using an appropriate roller as per the soil type to move at a specified speed.
iii. By driving concrete piles or wood piles and withdrawing piles and subsequently
fill the holed with sand and concrete.
4. Replacing the poor soil
In this method, the poor soil is removed and the gap is filled up by superior materials
such as sand, stone, gravel or any other hard material. In order to do this, first excavate
a foundation trench of about 1.5 m deep, and then fill the hard material is stages of 30
cm. Then compact the hard material at every stages.
5. Using grouting material
This method is applicable for soils where there is presence of pores, fissures or cracks
etc underneath the foundation. In this method, poor soil bearing strata is hardened by
injecting the cement grout under pressure, because it scales off any cracks or pores or
fissures etc. for proper distribution of the cement grout, the ground is bores and
perforated pipes are introduced to force the grout.
6. Stabilizing the soil with chemicals
This method of improving bearing capacity of soil is costly and applied in exceptional
cases. In this method, chemical solutions, like silicates of soda and calcium chloride is
injected with pressure into the soil. These chemical along with the soil particles form a
gel like structure and develop a compact mass. This is called chemical stabilization of
soil and used to give additional strength of soft soils at deeper depths.

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7.0 References
o https://civil-engg-world.blogspot.com/2013/09/Factor-Safety-Ultimate-Bearing-
Capacity-Pile-Foundation.html
o http://www.understandconstruction.com/pile-foundations.html
o Plaxis 2D Material Models Manual 2018
o https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-improve-bearing-capacity-soil-khaled-anis
o http://www.sptcal.com/standard-penetration-test
o https://www.geostru.eu/bearing-capacity-for-shallow-foundations/
o JKR Standard R.C Piles
o file:///C:/Users/ACER/Downloads/Wrana-2015-4.pdf

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8.0 Appendix

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